§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will calculate the annual growth of consumption of newsprint in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion of that increase was made up of recycled newsprint. [110106]
§ Ms HewittThe information for the yearly change of consumption of newsprint is in the table. The Pulp and Paper Information Centre estimate that the recycled content has increased from 27.3 per cent. in 1992 to 52.4 per cent. in 1998. Over this period, the tonnage of recycled newsprint increased by more than overall consumption.
Newsprint Consumption Year Tonnage '000 consumption Change per cent. 19891 2,055 7.1 1990 1,895 -7.8 1991 1,851 -2.3 1992 1,860 0.5 1993 1,937 2.0 19941 2,312 19.4 1995 2,214 -4.2 1996 2,221 0.3 1997 2,350 5.8 1998 2,497 6.2 19992 2,507 0.4 1 53 week year 2 Estimate Source:
The Paper Federation of Great Britain
514WDue to changes in import classifications figures may not be strictly compatible to those in preceding years.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the future role of incineration in the United Kingdom newsprint industry. [110102]
§ Ms HewittThe Government believe that incineration with energy recovery has an important role to play as one of the options in an integrated waste strategy. It can be the best practicable environmental option where the opportunity for recycling newsprint does not exist. For example, at least one leading paper mill utilises energy from waste.
The role of incineration was considered as one of the waste options when Regulatory Impact Assessments for the draft Waste Strategy and the Limiting Landfill consultation paper were drawn up.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the employment implications of newspaper recycling. [110104]
§ Ms HewittWhile environmental policies can have positive or negative effects on employment in individual sectors there is no presumption that they lead to net (overall) employment gains or losses. Generally, environmental policies are justified on the basis of environmental objectives, taking account of the costs and benefits of the policy.